Kimi Raikkonen joins Citroen WRC team

Citroen has announced that Kimi Raikkonen will join their junior Red-Bull backed WRC team for 2010. He will be partnered by former Junior WRC champion Sebastien Ogier, who joined the team last year. Next year, they will take part in 12 of the 13 rounds, missing the New Zealand rally.

Raikkonen has signed a one-year deal with Citroen, and has not ruled out a return to Formula 1 in the future, but only with a team with the potential to win championships.

Kimi said: “I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship at some point in my career. Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car of the series with the Citroen C4. This is a new but very exciting challenge. For the moment we have a one-year contract and we will see how it goes for the future. I am really looking forward to testing the car and taking the start of the first rally.”

Citroen team boss Oliver Quesnel said: “Red Bull’s commitment and energy are a perfect fit for Citroen’s ongoing thirst for victory,” Quesnel said. “We will continue to count on Sébastien and Dani to defend our world titles in 2010, and we will also be prolonging our association with Sebastien Ogier who showed outstanding potential this year. Last but not least, it is with immense joy that we welcome Kimi Raikkonen to our ranks. We are very proud that he has chosen Citroen.”

“In addition to the confirmation of these four crews, we will hopefully be able to announce other programmes over the coming weeks.”